Tainted Titles

I was wondering how ESPN would fill 45 minutes of sportscenter now that Brett Favre, at the moment, is not coming back.

Well, that didn't take long.

And honestly, was anyone really surprised? David Ortiz was nothing in Minnesota and then became Big Papi overnight in Boston. And the last couple of seasons his numbers had significantly dropped.

As a Yankees' fan, I'm very much relieved. Finally the Red Sox have been spotted under the steroid cloud. And it's hard to find two bigger stars.

When the Yankees blew the 3-0 2004 ALCS, I felt like my dog had got hit by a car. Now, it's like I woke up from a horrible dream.

Manny and Papi were the faces of the Red Sox resurgence. They were the cornerstones of the franchise. They were the biggest names in Boston this past decade. 100 years from now, when someone looks back at how the Red Sox reversed the cursed, the first two people they'll see are Manny and Papi.

So are Boston's 2 World Series' tainted? Yeah, they are.

This was the best 1-2 punch in all of sports. They were lethal together. With Bonds and A-Rod, it was about homerun records, neither of them had won a World Series. With Roger Clemens, it was a pitcher, someone who only played every 5th day. And Clemens was juicing at the end of his career. Manny and Ortiz were in their prime.

Ortiz single handily brought Boston back from the dead in the '04 ALCS. Remember those walk off homeruns? Well now we know he had a lot of help, and so did the guy batting in front of him.

Why am I so relieved? Because as a Yankees' fan I've been tormented the last couple of years about my team-"Jeter and the cheaters." The Red Sox had flown under the roid radar and were presumably clean. But come on! Remember this team was a bunch of self proclaimed idiots. Well now they're really looking like idiots. If Manny and Ortiz were juicing, what's not to make you think that whole team wasn't. Their entire lineup was having career years-Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek. And now don't you think Varitek had a roid rage moment back in '04 when he attacked A-Rod, ala Clemens/Piazza?

Are the Yankees' titles tainted? Well first we have to determine exactly when the steroid era began. It could have been back in the late '80's with the "Bash Bothers" winning with Oakland. Roger Clemens won two rings with the Yankees, in '99 and 2000. You can very much argue that Clemens was nearly as instrumental in those Yankees' titles as Manny and Ortiz were to Boston's.

When asked about Ortiz testing positive, Alex Rodriguez said,

"He's my friend and I care for David.

I have nothing else to say about it."

When A-Rod was busted last spring, well, we've heard what Ortiz had to say about baseball and steroids.

From 1997-2002 with the Twins, Ortiz hit 58 homeruns in 1477 at bats. A homerun every 25 at bats.

From 2003-2007 with the Red Sox, he hit 208 homeruns in 2738. A homerun every 13 at bats.

We've all heard the phrase, "Cheaters never win." Well, these two guys cheated and they won. They carried that team to their titles. And they were cheating.

There's still nearly 100 more names on the infamous list, but really, how much bigger names can come out. If Albert Pujols or Derek Jeter are named, I might just give up on baseball and feel like a huge part of my life has been stolen from me. That would probably be my worst nightmare.

How do you say Big cheatin liar in spanish?